Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Centaurworld’ On Netflix, Where A Battle-Tested Horse Finds Herself In A Musical World With Odd Creatures

Centaurworld is the imaginative and prescient of Megan Nicole Dong, an animator and comedian artist who beforehand labored for DreamWorks and Nickelodeon, two studios who’ve put out imaginative children’ animated collection that don’t in any respect speak all the way down to their audiences. Her imaginative and prescient of a battle-scarred horse in a world filled with musical, magical centaurs is one which must be seen to be believed — and loved.

Opening Shot: As we see a darkish, anime-style shot of a war-torn heckscape, a rider (Jessie Mueller) rides on her horse in the direction of her village, describing the battles she has seen. “The battle had been raging on so long as I may keep in mind.”

The Gist: Rider has an “artifact” that her basic advised her was the “key to victory.” However when Rider will get again to her village, the whole lot has been destroyed. She sings to Horse that “I’ll fly with you.” Subsequent, an battalion of troopers assaults; Rider and Horse defend themselves effectively, however the artifact begins hurtling in the direction of the sting of a cliff. When Horse tries to put it aside, she begins to plummet over the cliff. As Rider pulls on the artifact to avoid wasting Horse, a flash of sunshine goes off.

When Horse wakes up, she sees this very odd creature that appears like a giraffe however has a human-ish face. And, now hastily Horse (Kimiko Glenn) can speak. She freaks out on the sight of this odd creature, the brightly-colored panorama, and the “butt homes.” She’s greeted not solely by this loud giraffe-human creature named Durpleton (Josh Radnor), however by different centaurs: a bird-like creature named Ched (Chris Diamantopoulos), a thin-necked centaur named Glendale (Megan Nicole Dong) and a half-zebra-half-something named Zulius (Parvesh Cheena).

Lastly, we see Wammawink (Megan Hilty), a half-sheep that’s the group’s chief. She’s overjoyed that there’s somebody new that she will be able to nurture, however Horse needs no a part of it; she simply needs to get again to Rider. Even so, Wammawink corners Horse and sings to her as a welcome to Centaurworld, a world of happiness and singing — and one which simply bought out of a battle itself, as Glendale lets slip. Horse decides to take the rainbow path she sees out of city, however an invisible dome prevents her from leaving — and he or she tries to get out a bunch of various methods.

When she goes again to the “herd,” she finds out from Wammawink that the dome solely responds to magic. Sure, all of the centaurs have magical powers, from Ched with the ability to be good-looking for 8 seconds, to Glendale’s stretchy neck occasions. All of them can seemingly generate tiny variations of themselves from their hooves, all of which freak out at their very existence and run into the forest.

Horse continues to be decided to get again residence. So she appeals to the herd’s sense of journey, at the same time as Wammawink tries to get her to cease speaking. All of them need to go along with Horse to assist her, and even Wammawink helps open the dome together with her magic, as a lot as she’d reasonably keep in Centaurworld.

What Exhibits Will It Remind You Of? Strive as we would, it’s arduous to make a comparability to Centaurworld. It’s half anime, half Rick & Morty surreal craziness, half trippy Yellow Submarine–ish visuals, half Disney musical. However it’s nothing like every a type of issues.

Our Take: Creator/author/producer Megan Nicole Dong (who can be the voice of Glendale) takes viewers on a heck of a trip within the first episode of Centaurworld. It begins off so bleak, however intriguing, after which we go along with horse from this darkish world to this absurd, colourful, unusual, magical world the place everyone seems to be a centaur that sings like an angel. And regardless that the world Dong has created is one that appears prefer it was imagined with the help of edibles, she grounds it in a narrative that’s relatable and fascinating.

We, in fact, are in Horse’s place, taking a look at all of those hybrid creatures with magical powers and questioning simply how on the planet we bought there. However the truth that these centaurs — even Wammawink — are craving journey and need to assist Horse get again to what she is aware of units the viewer as much as observe them on a very good old style journey the place they meet the shaman which might be on the far corners of this world, and Horse begins to befriend and depend on the herd. She and Wammawink might even develop into pals.

So, simply because the primary episode hits you with a ton of visible and auditory stimuli, doesn’t imply that your entire collection will probably be all psychedelic craziness. We’ll get singing and dancing, we’ll get friendship and journey, and we’ll meet extra centaurs alongside the way in which. The whole voice forged does an incredible job embodying their characters, however Hilty and Glenn are on the present’s middle, and so they play off one another effectively. Hilty is particularly good; we all know that the Broadway veteran is humorous and we all know she has an incredible singing voice, however all of that and extra come out when she’s behind a voice over mic.

What Age Group Is This For?: There’s some gentle violence, particularly within the anime scenes at the beginning of the episode. However children 6 and up ought to have the ability to benefit from the present, which is rated TV-Y7.

Parting Shot: Horse and the herd undergo the opening within the dome and into the forest, with the assistance of Wammawink’s magic.

Sleeper Star: Dong is fairly humorous as Glendale, the one one of many herd who appears to have any nervousness, maybe combined with a contact of PTSD.

Most Pilot-y Line: None we may see.

Our Name: STREAM IT. Should you’re jonesing for a musical story after watching Schmigadoon!, begin streaming Centaurworld, even for those who don’t have children. It’s humorous and unusual all of sudden, and the music is fairly darn good.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about meals, leisure, parenting and tech, however he doesn’t child himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared within the New York Instances, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Quick Firm and elsewhere.

Stream Centaurworld On Netflix